Film Reviews

Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang

• Rating:
• Director: Susanna White
• Starring: Emma Thompson, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Ralph Fiennes, Maggie Smith,
• Details: UK/US/TBC G

Obviously made for the extremely young, this sequel to the surprise 2005 hit follows the trend of diminishing creative returns - when the original wasn't that great to begin with. Emma Thompson once again scripts and stars as the titular child minder, with a face like a half flushed toilet and the demeanour of a particularly repressed secondary school nun. Needless to say, the offspring yet to reach double digits will find much here to distract them for an hour and a half, but any kids with the capacity to get up and leave and sneak in to see Avatar again, will probably do just that. Maggie Gyllenhaal, somewhat inexplicably, plays a put upon English mother living in the countryside during World War 2. She has three hyper kids and two of their cousins staying, as well as a husband off fighting the Nazi's. Life is tough, especially when the youngsters spend the majority of their time knocking the crap out of each other and walking mud all over the gaff. Fortuitously, Nanny McPhee is here to help, when she randomly turns up at their door, cracks her stick on the ground a couple of times and has the kids eating out of the palm of her hand. Easily one of the flattest titular characters to grace the screen, Nanny McPhee is seemingly completely devoid of a personality, as hammy child acting and a flustered looking Gyllenhaal instead fill the majority of the running time. She may come with a positive message and a five part plan to have the little swine learn the meaning of stuff, but she doesn't say, or indeed do, an awful lot. She might as well be a 'No Frolicking' sign, raised by the mother whenever the children get bored with Scrabble. There are much more satisfying films aimed at a younger audience, either out at the cinema now, or on their way. Wait for How To Train Your Dragon, or better yet, buy Mary Poppins on DVD - both options are more worth your time and money.

Review by Mike Sheridan